What is amino silicone oil?
Amino silicone oil, also known as amino modified polysiloxane, is a product of partially substituted methyl groups in dimethyl silicone oil with amino alkyl groups. It not only retains the hydrophobicity and demolding properties of dimethyl silicone oil, but also possesses new properties such as reactivity, adhesion, lubricity, and flexibility due to the introduction of amino groups. These characteristics have enabled amino silicone oil to be widely used in industries such as textile, leather, and daily chemical, especially in the dyeing and finishing industry of textiles.
Application of Amino Silicone Oil in Textile Softening Finishing
As a basic component of textile softening agents, amino silicone oil has the best adsorption, compatibility, and emulsifying properties. Amino silicone oil can be easily emulsified into stable and transparent microemulsion by proper surfactant through mixer or homogenizer. This lotion can be used alone or combined with other organosilicon or organic softeners to become a special softening finishing agent, which is suitable for the softening finishing of various textiles.
Amino silicone oil endows fabrics with softness, smoothness, fullness, and a good elastic feel. In recent years, research on amino silicone oil has been continuously deepened in China, especially in the post finishing of wool or polyester fabrics, achieving significant results.
The Influence of Amino Silicone Oil Properties on Fabric Texture
1. Softnes
Amino silicone oil, through the binding of amino functional groups to fabrics, greatly enhances the affinity and regular arrangement of organosilicon to fabrics, thereby endowing fabrics with softness and smooth hand feel. However, the actual finishing effect largely depends on the nature, quantity, and distribution of amino functional groups in amino silicone oil. At the same time, the formula of lotion and the average particle size of lotion also affect the soft feel. When these factors reach an ideal balance, the soft style of fabric finishing will reach its optimum, that is, "super soft".
Generally speaking, the ammonia value of amino silicone oil softener is mostly between 0.3 and 0.6. The higher the ammonia value, the more uniform the distribution of amino functional groups in silicone oil, and the softer the texture of the fabric. But when the ammonia value is greater than 0.6, the softness and feel of the fabric do not significantly increase. In addition, the smaller the particle size of lotion, the more conducive to the adhesion of lotion, which is beneficial to soft feel.
2 Smooth hand feel
Due to the low surface tension of organosilicon compounds, amino silicon micro lotion is easy to spread on the fiber surface, forming a good smooth feel. The smaller the ammonia value and the larger the molecular weight of amino silicone oil, the better the smoothness. Amino terminated silicone oil can form a very neat directional arrangement due to all the silicon atoms in the chain links being connected to the methyl group, resulting in excellent smooth hand feel.
3 Elasticity (fullness)
The elasticity (fullness) brought by amino silicone oil softener to fabrics varies due to the reactivity, viscosity, and ammonia value of silicone oil. The elasticity of a fabric depends on the cross-linking of the amino silicone film on the surface of the fabric during drying and shaping. The higher the ammonia value of hydroxyl terminated amino silicone oil, the better its fullness (elasticity); Introducing hydroxyl groups into side chains can significantly adjust the elasticity of fabrics; Introducing long-chain alkyl groups into the side chains can also achieve ideal elastic hand feel; Choosing the appropriate crosslinking agent can also achieve the desired elastic effect.
4 degrees of whiteness
Due to the special activity of amino functional groups, under the influence of time, heating, and ultraviolet radiation, amino groups will be oxidized, causing the fabric to turn yellow or slightly yellowish. Therefore, whiteness has always been an important evaluation indicator for amino silicone oil finishing agents, in addition to hand feel. Usually, the lower the ammonia value in amino silicone oil, the better the whiteness; But correspondingly, as the ammonia value decreases, the effectiveness of the softener deteriorates. For this, it is necessary to choose silicone oil with an appropriate ammonia value to achieve the desired hand feel. In the case of low ammonia values, the desired soft hand feel can also be achieved by changing the molecular weight of amino silicone oil.
Other applications of amino silicone oil
In addition to being used as a softening agent for textiles, the lotion made of amino silicone oil added with emulsifier is also commonly used as a fiber fabric treatment agent to significantly improve the softness, crease resistance, elasticity and tear resistance. In addition, it is also used as a polishing agent for equipment and furniture, a paper processing agent, a coating antifreeze agent, and a rust and corrosion inhibitor for metals. In hair products, amino silicone oil can also be used as a blending agent for hair oil and wax, making hair soft and shiny.